Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

A growing number of people rely on restaurants and convenience food (frozen food and packaged meals) rather than home-cooked food to supply most of their meals.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of eating this way?

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Nowadays people have hectic schedule due to which people prefer to eat out or consume ready made food rather than cooking at home. Adults work for long hours due to rise in inflation which makes them left with no time to cook for them and for their children. In the upcoming paragraphs i will explain how the disadvantages of the same overweigh advantages.

Undoubtedly, there are regular inspections at food stores but their are always some aspects that cannot compete with homemade food in hygiene. for example, at home all the vegetables are washed and choped without any contamination which leads to consumption of clean food. Secondly, packaged and frozen foods are sold by stores but individulas are unknown to the fact that how and from where they get it. Were the food items prepared and packaged with maintaining food safety standards? This can lead to serious health issues.

Moreover, meals prepared by family at home is more fresh than the food in stores and restaurants. Packaged foods are never helathy as they are high in fast which leads to serious heart diseases in adults and overweight and obesiety in children at very young age. On the other hand, restaurants do not prepare every food item every day. Most of the food items are pre-prepared and most of them are week old as well. This can lead to gastric issues. For instance, Indian food requires gravies and variety of sauces in order to make curries, it is impossible to make all of them in single day, therefore they prepare them in advance which leads to acidity issues as well.

Overall, ready made food is good for comvinience and time saving but negative affects of the same cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is important to eat healthy and homemade food as it is healthy, hygienic and fresh. Health should be prioritize than anything .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both sides of the question: the conclusion recognises convenience and time-saving as benefits, while the main paragraphs explain concerns about hygiene, freshness and health. Your position—that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages—is clear. However, the advantages are only briefly mentioned, so the response does not develop both parts of the task equally. The discussion of disadvantages includes relevant examples, such as food preparation in Indian restaurants, but some claims are broad or insufficiently explained; for instance, the link between stored gravies and acidity is asserted rather than supported. To strengthen the response, develop at least one specific advantage and explain the consequences of each main disadvantage more carefully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs focused on disadvantages, and a concluding summary. Sequencing words such as “Secondly,” “Moreover,” and “On the other hand” help signal relationships between points. However, the two body paragraphs largely repeat health and food-quality concerns, while the advantages receive no separate development, so progression across the whole response is limited. Some links are mechanical or unclear: “On the other hand” introduces another disadvantage rather than a contrasting benefit, and “the same” is an imprecise reference. Organise the body around distinct points—for example, convenience and time savings in one paragraph, then health and food-safety risks in another—and use clearer references between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “ready made food,” “food safety standards,” “pre-prepared,” and “heart diseases,” which makes the subject clear. There are also attempts to express more specific ideas, such as “hygiene” and “contamination.” However, spelling errors and inaccurate word choices are noticeable, including “choped,” “individulas,” “helathy,” “comvinience,” and “obesiety.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “high in fast” and “serious heart diseases.” These issues reduce precision, even though the main meaning is generally understandable. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for nutrition and food preparation; using accurate phrases will make your argument more fluent and convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “which,” “but,” and “therefore,” and most of the argument remains understandable. However, errors occur frequently in sentence structure, agreement, articles and punctuation. For example, “Adults work for long hours … which makes them left with no time” has an incorrect construction, while “meals prepared by family at home is more fresh” has a subject–verb agreement problem. The question “Were the food items prepared…?” is not integrated correctly into the sentence, and several sentence openings lack capital letters. Practise building accurate complex sentences and checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, correct agreement, and appropriate punctuation.

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